Jenna Ortega plays Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday, and her character is bound to possess a number of unusual traits. One particular quirk that stands out from the rest is the fact that Wednesday never seems to blink.
“She doesn’t blink,” Ortega confirmed Nov. 21 Interview on “The Today Show.” “[Tim Burton] I like it when I tilt my chin down and look through my eyebrows, kind of like a Kubrick look, and then I relax all the muscles in my face.” A “kubrick look” refers to a specific expression that the Director used in films including ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘The Shining’ where the character stares intently at the camera from under a frown.
During filming, Ortega said that she found not blinking “pretty annoying,” but eventually found that she could blink while other characters were saying her lines, and keep her eyes wide open for her own.
In a November 28th tweet, Netflix itself explained how the non-flashing nature came about on Wednesday. “After attempting a take where she didn’t blink, Tim Burton was so enamored with the result that he told Jenna Ortega to stop blinking on Wednesday,” the streamer wrote. “So she didn’t.”
Characters who don’t blink are fairly common in Burton’s films. In a 2016 interview with Yahoo!, the director confirmed that he actively dislikes blinking. I don’t know why,” he said. “Even if you mention it now, it drives me insane.”
“Wednesday,” which aired November 16, bestows its beloved protagonist with psychic powers and a monstrous new foe, while providing important Latinx representation. From her hair transformation to her choice of goth fashion, Ortega’s Wednesday has also been widely praised, and her lack of blinking is just another memorable facet of her performance.
“Wednesday” is now streaming on Netflix.